Don’t be too quick to judge!

This happened to me! Back in 1998. We were new to the neighborhood and the much older woman who lived next door would walk to the end of the driveway to get her mail about 15 feet away from my mailbox. I would greet her each day calling out from my mailbox, how are you today? No reply…I would do this for about 5 days with no response Why does this woman hate me, are we bad neighbors, has she misunderstood something? She won’t even look at me. So now I am taking this personally and would avoid being outside at the same time. I would wait for her to get her mail then I would get mine. One day I was pulling into the driveway and thought oh no when I saw her outside. I felt judged and rejected by this woman. That day when I got out of the car she was just standing in her driveway looking at me with a smile…..I was confused. As I had to walk past her she called out, I was wondering when we would get to meet. This totally confused me. I told her, “I have said hello several times when you check your mail.” “Oh no sweetie. I don’t hear very well and my eyes sight is failing.” Her name was Veronica but her friends called her Ronnie she told me. Ronny and I became friends that day and checked the mail every day together where we would stand and chat. Ronny would share with me how much she looked forward to checking the mail because that always meant a hug from me in the driveway and she wasn’t so lonely anymore. I wasn’t as lonely anymore either. She would want to know everything going on with my husband and kids; she just wanted to talk. See what tried to get stolen from both of us? I didn’t call her Ronny, I called her Miss Veronica. She would later tell me, “no one calls me Veronica anymore, except you and that is what my mother called me…I think about my mom often now, and she has been gone so long I almost forgot her. But because of you, I love to think back about all those years ago.” Miss Veronica was the best 88-year-old friend a girl could have.